millions of aphids on my Japanese Maple tree... HELP!!

siaoeh

the leaves on my young tree have only just started growing out this week... and when I went out to do my spring feed today, noticed millions of aphids on the tree!! :mad: almost every little tip has got a bunch or 2 of those pests and my poor little tree looks like its in pain.. the leaves are not as brightly red as they should be as new leaves and they are starting to curl up too.... can anyone help me? what should I do to get rid of them? I have mixed up a few teaspoons of washing up liquid in a 1L spray bottle with water and been spraying at all the little !!!!!!s... would this work?

another worry I have is.. would the aphids spread to my other plants? haven't got any other trees around, but do have a little evergreen bonsai...

would really appreciate if anyone got any advise for me.. I'm quite a greenhorn at gardening and am very distraught to see my poor little tree suffer like this....

julbags

I've used Derris in the past on stuff that was quite badly infested - it was a herb so it needed to be safe for eating afterwards. I've also used soapy liquid which helps but you do have to keep at it and make sure you do the underside of the leaves as well. They're annoying things and hard to get rid of.

Only other thing I found useful was to check for ants (they farm aphids) and pour boiling water over any suspected nests. This seemed to help my infestation a bit.

Kay_Peel

You could zap them with a pest spray or an insecticidal soap but there are cheaper solutions:

1. Rub them off with your fingers (wear gloves if you're squeamish)
2. Spray with a bit of washing up liquid diluted in water (1 teaspoon per litre)
3. Plants some marigolds near the maple. This will encourage hoverflies and ladybirds to your garden and they love greenfly larvae.

I must admit that I use (1). I've also been known to cut off the tip of a plant and put it, aphids and all, in the dustbin.

Kay

SwissToni_2

The thing with soap is you have to keep at it on a daily basis for it to work until the bugs have gone. Also try not to spray when it's sunny to prevent leaf scorch. Remember to spray under leaves as well as on top. Aphids usually start on growing tips so focus there. If you notice ants climbing up any tree then there's probably a sure chance that they're farming aphids there. So you may have to treat the ants too, to stop them bringing more aphids over and restocking. A talc ring around the base of the tree will have the same effect as ant powder only it won't kill them, otherwise just use ant powder. The sticky rain from aphid infected trees can cause mildew on others, the same soap spray can wash this away when fresh, again avoid sunny days.

Oh and keeping checking to see if they're alive or dead, no point spraying dried up corpses.

Poppycat

Where I live we have hundreds of ladybirds, its years that I have seen so many about. I wish I could send some your way to help you

SwissToni_2

Talking of ladybirds, another trick is to move baby ladybirds and adults to the infected plant and let them to do job for you. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/49/165384618_8dcc4bb368.jpg?v=0
Also if you have a bird feeder hang it nearby, blue tits & long-tailed tits love aphids and will pick them clean too.

siaoeh

thanks everyone for your suggestions and advice... too many to try and kill off by hand, and no ladybirds or birds other than big black crows unfortunately have sprayed at them yesterday with the diluted washing up liquid mix.. had advice from a friend and an extended session on google.. I've made up a concoction by boiling some crushed garlic and citrus peels to spray on the... liquid cooling at the moment.. will update the results... fingers crossed!

gavinp

I read somewhere that adding a small amount of sunflower/cooking oil to water and spraying the leaves works well as it suffocates the pest - has anyone tried this ?

Thanks

Gavin

[Deleted User]

oil and water dont mix, so it must just be oil if anything.

Your best best is a can of deoderant and a lighter

KatrinaC_2

siaoeh wrote: »

I've made up a concoction by boiling some crushed garlic and citrus peels to spray on the... liquid cooling at the moment.. will update the results... fingers crossed!

If it fails as an aphid killer, it would make a very nice marinade for barbequed chicken

Kat

Jayar

KatrinaC wrote: »

If it fails as an aphid killer, it would make a very nice marinade for barbequed chicken

Kat

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